Dell Appassure 5.4.3 Third-party Integration Guide

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Dell™ AppAssure™ 5.4.3 Third-Party Integration Guide © 2014 Dell Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This guide contains proprietary information protected by copyright. The software described in this guide is furnished under a software license or nondisclosure agreement. This software may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of the applicable agreement. No part of this guide may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording for any purpose other than the purchaser’s personal use without the written permission of Dell Inc. The information in this document is provided in connection with Dell products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any intellectual property right is granted by this document or in connection with the sale of Dell products. 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Dell AppAssure  Third-Party Integration Guide Updated - December 2014 Software Version - 5.4.3 Contents Introduction to AppAssure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 AppAssure Core technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Live Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Verified Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Universal Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . True global deduplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5 5 5 5 AppAssure True Scale architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 AppAssure deployment architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Product features of AppAssure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 Installing and configuring the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya and the  AppAssure software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Preparing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17 Installing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Uninstalling the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 AppAssure system requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Managing your AppAssure licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Installing AppAssure using Kaseya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Using the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Managing AppAssure Core and agent credentials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Configuring repositories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Configuring machine protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31 Managing replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Monitoring AppAssure activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Managing AppAssure Core reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36 About Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Contacting Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Technical support resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38 Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 3 1 Introduction to AppAssure This chapter provides an introduction and overview of AppAssure. It describes the features, functionality, and architecture, and consists of the following topics: • AppAssure Core technologies • AppAssure True Scale architecture • AppAssure deployment architecture • Product features of AppAssure AppAssure sets a new standard for unified data protection by combining backup, replication, and recovery in a single solution that is engineered to be the fastest and most reliable backup for protecting virtual machines (VM), physical machines, and cloud environments. AppAssure combines backup and replication into one integrated and unified data protection product that also provides application awareness to ensure reliable application data recovery from your backups. AppAssure is built on the new, patent-pending True Scale architecture which delivers the fastest backup performance with very aggressive, near-zero recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO). AppAssure combines several unique, innovative, and breakthrough technologies: • Live Recovery • Verified Recovery • Universal Recovery • True global deduplication These technologies are engineered with secure integration for cloud disaster recovery and deliver fast and reliable recovery. With its scalable object store, AppAssure is uniquely capable of handling up to petabytes of data very rapidly with built-in global deduplication, compression, encryption, and replication to any private or public cloud infrastructure. Server applications and data can be recovered in minutes for data retention and compliance purposes. Today's legacy backup tools and first-generation VM backup tools are inefficient and ineffective. The outdated backup tools lack the ability to handle large-scale data and do not offer the level of performance and reliability needed for protecting business-critical applications. Combine this with complex and mixed IT environments and it presents an administrative challenge for IT professionals and vulnerability of system data. AppAssure addresses this complexity and inefficiency through our core technology and support of multihypervisor environments including those running on VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, which comprise both private and public clouds. AppAssure offers these technological advances while dramatically reducing IT management and storage costs. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 4 AppAssure Core technologies Details about the core technologies of AppAssure are described in the following topics. Live Recovery Live Recovery is instant recovery technology for VMs or servers. It gives you near-continuous access to data volumes on virtual or physical servers. You can recover an entire volume with near-zero RTO and an RPO of minutes. AppAssure backup and replication technology records concurrent snapshots of multiple VMs or servers, providing near instantaneous data and system protection. You can resume the use of the server directly from the backup file without waiting for a full restore to production storage. Users remain productive and IT departments reduce recovery windows to meet today's increasingly stringent RTO and RPO service-level agreements. Verified Recovery Verified Recovery lets you perform automated recovery testing and verification of backups. It includes, but is not limited to, file systems; Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, 2010, and 2013; and Microsoft SQL Server 2005, 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, and 2014. Verified Recovery provides recoverability of applications and backups in virtual and physical environments. It also features a comprehensive integrity checking algorithm based on 256-bit SHA keys that check the correctness of each disk block in the backup during archiving, replication, and data seeding operations. This capability ensures that data corruption is identified early and prevents corrupted data blocks from being maintained or transferred during the backup process. Universal Recovery Universal Recovery technology gives you unlimited machine restoration flexibility. You can restore your backups from physical to virtual, virtual to virtual, virtual to physical, or physical to physical. You can also carry out bare metal restores to dissimilar hardware; for example, P2V, V2V, V2P, P2P, P2C, V2C, C2P, C2V. It also accelerates cross-platform moves among virtual machines; for instance, moving from VMware to Hyper-V or Hyper-V to VMware. It builds in application-level, item-level, and object-level recovery: individual files, folders, email, calendar items, databases, and applications. With AppAssure, you can also recover or export physical to cloud, or virtual to cloud. True global deduplication AppAssure provides true global deduplication that dramatically reduces your physical disk capacity requirements by offering space reduction ratios exceeding 50:1, while still meeting the data storage requirements. True Scale inline block-level compression and deduplication with line speed performance, along with built-in integrity checking, prevents data corruption from affecting the quality of the backup and archiving processes. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 5 AppAssure True Scale architecture AppAssure is built on AppAssure True Scale architecture. It leverages dynamic, multi-core pipeline architecture that is optimized to consistently deliver line-speed performance for your enterprise environments. True Scale is designed from the ground up to linearly scale and efficiently store and manage big data, and deliver RTOs and RPOs of minutes without compromising performance. It includes a purpose-built object and volume manager with integrated global deduplication, compression, encryption, replication, and retention. The following diagram describes the AppAssure True Scale architecture. Figure 1. AppAssure True Scale architecture The AppAssure Volume Manager and scalable object store serve as the foundation of the AppAssure True Scale architecture. The scalable object store stores block-level snapshots that are captured from virtual and physical servers. The volume manager manages the numerous object stores by providing a common repository or just-intime storage for only what is needed. The object store concurrently supports everything with asynchronous I/O that delivers high throughput with minimal latency and maximizes system utilization. The repository resides on different storage technologies such as Storage Area Network (SAN), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), or Network Attached Storage (NAS). The role of the AppAssure Volume Manager is similar to the role of the volume manager in an operating system. It takes various storage devices — which can be of different sizes and types — and combines them into logical volumes, using striped or sequential allocation policies. The object store saves, retrieves, maintains, and then replicates objects that are derived from application-aware snapshots. The volume manager delivers scalable I/O performance in tandem with global data deduplication, encryption, and retention management. AppAssure deployment architecture AppAssure is a scalable backup and recovery product that is flexibly deployed within the enterprise or as a service delivered by a managed service provider. The type of deployment will depend on the size and requirements of the customer. Preparing to deploy AppAssure involves planning the network storage topology, core hardware and disaster recovery infrastructure, and security. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 6 The AppAssure deployment architecture consists of local and remote components. The remote components may be optional to those who do not want to leverage a disaster recovery site or a managed service provider for offsite recovery. A basic local deployment consists of a backup server called the Core and one or more protected machines known as the agents. The off-site component is enabled using replication that provides full recovery capabilities in the DR site. The AppAssure Core uses base images and incremental snapshots to compile recovery points of protected agents. Additionally, AppAssure is application-aware because it has the ability to detect the presence of Microsoft Exchange and SQL and their respective databases and log files and then automatically group these volumes with dependency for comprehensive protection and effective recovery. This ensures that you never have incomplete backups when you are performing recoveries. Backups are performed using application-aware block-level snapshots. AppAssure can also perform log truncation of the protected Microsoft Exchange and SQL servers. The following diagram depicts a simple AppAssure deployment. In this diagram, AppAssure Agents are installed on machines such as a file server, email server, database server, or virtual machines and connect to and are protected by a single AppAssure Core, which also consists of the central repository. The Dell AppAssure License Portal manages license subscriptions, groups and users for the agents and cores in your environment. Users log in to the License Portal to activate accounts, download software, and deploy agents and cores per your license for your environment. Figure 2. AppAssure deployment architecture You can also deploy multiple AppAssure Cores as shown in the following diagram. Multiple cores are managed by a Web-based, central console. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 7 Figure 3. AppAssure multi-Core deployment architecture AppAssure Smart Agent The AppAssure Smart Agent is installed on the machines that will be protected by the AppAssure Core. The Smart Agent tracks the changed blocks on the disk volume and then creates a snapshot of an image of the changed blocks at a predefined interval of protection. This incremental block-level snapshots’ forever approach prevents repeated copying of the same data from the protected machine to the Core. The Smart Agent is application-aware and is dormant when not in use, with near zero (0) percent CPU utilization and less than 20 MB of memory overhead. When the Smart Agent is active, it uses up to two (2) to four (4) percent CPU utilization and less than 150 MB memory, which includes transferring the snapshots to the Core. This is much lower than traditional legacy software programs that use significantly higher levels of CPU and memory bandwidth, even though they are dormant. The AppAssure Smart Agent is application-aware because it not only detects the type of application that is installed but the location of the data as well. It automatically groups data volumes with dependency, such as databases, and then logs them together for effective protection and rapid recovery. Once the agent is configured, it uses smart technology to keep track of changed blocks on the protected disk volumes. When a snapshot is ready, it is rapidly transferred to the AppAssure Core using intelligent, multi-threaded, socket-based connections. To preserve CPU bandwidth and memory on the protected machines, the smart agent does not encrypt or deduplicate the data at the source, and agent machines are paired with a core for protection. AppAssure Core The AppAssure Core is the central component of the AppAssure deployment architecture. The Core stores and manages all of the machine backups and provides core services for backup, recovery, and retention as well as replication, archiving, and management. The Core is a self-contained network-addressable dedicated server that runs a 64-bit variant of the Microsoft Windows operating system. AppAssure performs target-based, inline compression, encryption, and data deduplication of the data received from an agent. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 8 The Core then stores the snapshot backups in a repository, which can reside on different storage technologies such as Storage Area Network (SAN), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), or Network Attached Storage (NAS). The repository can also reside on internal storage volumes on the Core server. The Core is managed by accessing the following URL from a JavaScript-enabled Web browser: https://CORENAME:8006/apprecovery/admin. Internally, all core services are accessible through Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). The core services can be accessed from within the Core or directly over the Internet from any application that can send an HTTP/HTTPS request and receive an HTTP/HTTPS response. All API operations are performed over SSL and are mutually authenticated using X.509 v3 certificates. Snapshot process The AppAssure protection process commences when a base image is transferred from an agent machine to the Core, followed by incremental snapshots forever. The AppAssure Agent software for Windows uses Microsoft Volume Shadow copy Service (VSS) to freeze and quiesce application data to disk to capture a file-systemconsistent and an application-consistent backup. When a snapshot is created, the VSS writer on the target server prevents content from being written to the disk. During the process of halting of writing content to disk, all disk I/O operations are queued and resume only after the snapshot is complete, while the operations already in flight will be completed and all open files will be closed. The process of creating a shadow copy does not significantly impact the performance of the production system. AppAssure uses Microsoft VSS because it has built-in support for all Windows internal technologies such as NTFS, Registry, Active Directory, and so on, to flush data to disk before the snapshot. Additionally, other enterprise applications, such as Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server, use VSS Writer plug-ins to get notified when a snapshot is being prepared and when they have to flush their used database pages to disk to bring the database to a consistent transactional state. It is important to note that VSS is used to quiesce system and application data to disk; it is not used to create the snapshot. The captured data is rapidly transferred to and stored on the AppAssure Core. Using VSS for backup does not render the application server in backup mode for an extended period of time because the length of time to perform the snapshot is seconds and not hours. Another benefit of using VSS for backups is that it lets the protected machine take a snapshot of large quantities of data at one time since the snapshot works at the volume level. Replication — Disaster recovery site or service provider The replication process in AppAssure requires a paired source-target relationship between two or more cores. The source core copies the recovery points of selected protected machines, and then asynchronously and continually transmits the incremental snapshot data to the target core at a remote disaster recovery site. The off-site location can be a company-owned data center (self-managed core), or a third-party managed service provider (MSP) location or cloud environment. When replicating to a third-party target core, you can use builtin work flows that let you request connections and receive automatic feedback notifications. For the initial transfer of data you can perform data seeding using external media, which is useful for large sets of data or sites with slow links. In the case of a severe outage, AppAssure supports failover and failback in replicated environments. In case of a comprehensive outage, the target core in the secondary site can recover instances from replicated machines and immediately commence protection on the failed-over machines. Once the primary site is restored, the replicated core can fail-back data from the recovered instances back to protected machines at the primary site. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 9 Recovery Recovery can be performed in the local site or the replicated remote site. Once the deployment is in steady state with local protection and optional replication, the AppAssure Core lets you perform recovery using Verified Recovery, Universal Recovery, or Live Recovery. Product features of AppAssure Using AppAssure, you can manage all aspects of protection and recovery of critical data through the following features and functionality. They include: • Repository • True Global Deduplication • Encryption • Replication • Recovery-as-a-Service (RaaS) • Retention and archiving • Virtualization and cloud • Alerts and event management • License Portal • Web console • Service management APIs • White labeling • AppAssure wizards Repository The AppAssure repository uses deduplication volume manager (DVM) to implement a volume manager that provides support for multiple volumes, each of which could reside on different storage technologies such as Storage Area Network (SAN), Direct Attached Storage (DAS), Network Attached Storage (NAS), or cloud storage. Each volume consists of a scalable object store with deduplication. The scalable object store behaves as a records-based file system, where the unit of storage allocation is a fixed-sized data block called a record. This architecture lets you configure block-sized support for compression and deduplication. Rollup operations are reduced to metadata operations from disk intensive operations because the rollup no longer moves data but only moves the records. The DVM can combine a set of object stores into a volume and they can be expanded by creating additional file systems. The object store files are pre-allocated and can be added on demand as storage requirements change. It is possible to create up to 255 independent repositories on a single AppAssure Core and to further increase the size of a repository by adding new file extents. An extended repository may contain up to 4,096 extents that span across different storage technologies. The maximum size of a repository is 32 Exabytes. Multiple repositories can exist on a single core. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 10 True Global Deduplication True global deduplication is an effective method of reducing backup storage needs by eliminating redundant or duplicate data. Deduplication is effective because only one unique instance of the data across multiple backups is stored in the repository. The redundant data is stored, but not physically; it is simply replaced with a pointer to the one unique data instance in the repository. Conventional backup applications have been performing repetitive full backups every week, but AppAssure performs incremental block-level backups of the machines forever. This incremental-forever approach in tandem with data deduplication helps to drastically reduce the total quantity of data committed to the disk. The typical disk layout of a server consists of the operating system, application, and data. In most environments, the administrators often use a common flavor of the server and desktop operating system across multiple systems for effective deployment and management. When AppAssure backs up at the block level across multiple machines simultaneously, it provides a more detailed view of what is in the backup and what is not, irrespective of the source. This data includes the operating system, the applications, and the application data across the environment. Figure 4. True global deduplication AppAssure performs target-based inline data deduplication. This method transmits the snapshot data to the Core before it is deduplicated. Inline data deduplication simply means that the data is deduplicated before it is committed to disk. This is very different from at-source or post-process deduplication, where the data is deduplicated at the source before it is transmitted to the target for storage, and in post-process the data is sent raw to the target where it is analyzed and deduplicated after the data has been committed to disk. At-source deduplication consumes precious system resources on the machine whereas the post-process data deduplication approach needs all the requisite data on disk (a greater initial capacity overhead) before commencing the deduplication process. On the other hand, inline data deduplication does not require additional disk capacity and CPU cycles on the source or on the Core for the deduplication process. Lastly, conventional backup applications perform repetitive full backups every week, while AppAssure performs incremental block-level backups of the machines forever. This incremental forever approach in tandem with data deduplication helps to drastically reduce the total quantity of data committed to the disk with a reduction ratio of as much as 80:1. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 11 Encryption AppAssure provides integrated encryption to protect backups and data-at-rest from unauthorized access and use, ensuring data privacy. AppAssure provides strong encryption. By doing so, backups of protected computers are inaccessible. Only the user with the encryption key can access and decrypt the data. There is no limit to the number of encryption keys that can be created and stored on a system. DVM uses AES 256-bit encryption in the Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) mode with 256-bit keys. Encryption is performed inline on snapshot data, at line speeds without impacting performance. This is because DVM implementation is multi-threaded and uses hardware acceleration specific to the processor on which it is deployed. Encryption is multi-tenant ready. The deduplication has been specifically limited to records that have been encrypted with the same key; two identical records that have been encrypted with different keys will not be deduplicated against each other. This design decision ensures that deduplication cannot be used to leak data between different encryption domains. This is a benefit for managed service providers, as replicated backups for multiple tenants (customers) can be stored on a single core without any tenant being able to see or access other tenant data. Each active tenant encryption key creates an encryption domain within the repository where only the owner of the keys can see, access, or use the data. In a multi-tenant scenario, data is partitioned and deduplicated within the encryption domains. In replication scenarios, AppAssure uses SSL 3.0 to secure the connections between the two cores in a replication topology to prevent eavesdropping and tampering. Replication Replication is the process of copying recovery points from an AppAssure core and transmitting them to another AppAssure core in a separate location for the purpose of disaster recovery. The process requires a paired sourcetarget relationship between two or more cores. The source core copies the recovery points of selected protected machines, and then asynchronously and continually transmits the incremental snapshot data to the target core at a remote disaster recovery site. You can configure outbound replication to a company-owned data center or remote disaster recovery site (that is, a “self-managed” target core). Or, you can configure outbound replication to a third-party managed service provider (MSP) or cloud provider that hosts off-site backup and disaster recovery services. When replicating to a third-party target core, you can use built-in work flows that let you request connections and receive automatic feedback notifications. Replication is managed on a per-protected-machine basis. Any machine (or all machines) protected or replicated on a source core can be configured to replicate to a target core. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 12 Figure 5. Replication Replication is self-optimizing with a unique Read-Match-Write (RMW) algorithm that is tightly coupled with deduplication. With RMW replication, the source and target replication service matches keys before transferring data and then replicates only the compressed, encrypted, deduplicated data across the WAN, resulting in a 10x reduction in bandwidth requirements. Replication begins with seeding: the initial transfer of deduplicated base images and incremental snapshots of the protected agents, which can add up to hundreds or thousands of gigabytes of data. Initial replication can be seeded to the target core using external media. This is typically useful for large sets of data or sites with slow links. The data in the seeding archive is compressed, encrypted and deduplicated. If the total size of the archive is larger than the space available on the removable media, the archive can span across multiple devices based on the available space on the media. During the seeding process, the incremental recovery points replicate to the target site. After the target core consumes the seeding archive, the newly replicated incremental recovery points automatically synchronize. Recovery-as-a-Service (RaaS) Managed service providers (MSPs) can fully leverage AppAssure as a platform for delivering recovery as a service (RaaS). RaaS facilitates complete recovery-in-the-cloud by replicating customers' physical and virtual servers along with their data to the service provider's cloud as virtual machines to support recovery testing or actual recovery operations. Customers wanting to perform recovery-in-the-cloud can configure replication on their protected machines on the local cores to an AppAssure service provider. In the event of a disaster, the MSPs can instantly spin-up virtual machines for the customer. MSPs can deploy multi-tenant AppAssure-based RaaS infrastructure that can host multiple and discrete organizations or business units (the tenants) that ordinarily do not share security or data on a single server or a group of servers. The data of each tenant is isolated and secure from other tenants and the service provider. Retention and archiving AppAssure offers flexible backup and retention policies that are easily configurable. The ability to tailor retention polices to the needs of an organization not only helps to meet compliance requirements but does so without compromising recovery time objectives (RTO). Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 13 Retention policies enforce the periods of time in which backups are stored on short-term (fast and expensive) media. Sometimes certain business and technical requirements mandate extended retention of these backups, but use of fast storage is cost prohibitive. Therefore, this requirement creates a need for long-term (slow and cheap) storage. Businesses often use long-term storage for archiving both compliance and non-compliance data. The archive feature supports extended retentions for compliance and non-compliance data, as well as being used for seeding replication data to a target core. Figure 6. Retention policy In AppAssure retention policies can be customized to specify the length of time a backup recovery point is maintained. As the age of the recovery points approach the end of their retention period, they age out and are removed from the retention pool. Typically, this process becomes inefficient and eventually fails as the amount of data and the period of retention start growing rapidly. AppAssure solves the big data problem by managing the retention of large amounts of data with complex retention policies and performing rollup operations for aging data using efficient metadata operations. Backups can be performed with an interval of a few minutes; and, these backups age over days, months, and years. Retention policies manage the aging and deletion of old backups. A simple waterfall method defines the aging process. The levels within the waterfall are defined in minutes, hours, and days; weeks, months, and years. The retention policy is enforced by the nightly rollup process. For long term archival, AppAssure lets you create an archive of the source or target core on any removable media. The archive is internally optimized, and all data in the archive is compressed, encrypted, and deduplicated. If the total size of the archive is larger than the space available on the removable media, the archive will span across multiple devices based on the available space on the media. Recovery from an archive does not require a new core; any core can ingest the archive and recover data if the administrator has the passphrase and the encryption keys. Virtualization and cloud The AppAssure Core is cloud-ready, which means you can leverage the compute capacity of the cloud for recovery and archiving. AppAssure can export any protected or replicated machine to a virtual machine (VM), such as a licensed version of VMware or Hyper-V. You can perform a one-time virtual export, or you can establish a virtual standby VM by establishing a continuous virtual export. With continuous exports, the virtual machine is incrementally updated after every snapshot. The incremental updates are fast and provide standby clones that are ready to be powered up with a click of a button. Supported VM export types include: VMware Workstation and VMware Server on a folder; direct export to a vSphere or VMware ESX(i) host; export to Oracle VirtualBox; and export to Microsoft Hyper-V Server on Windows Server 2008 (x64), 2008 R2, 2012 (x64), and 2012 R2 (including support for Hyper-V generation 2 VMs). Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 14 Additionally, you can archive your repository data to the cloud using Microsoft Azure, Amazon S3, Rackspace Cloud Files, or other OpenStack-based cloud services. Alerts and event management In addition to HTTP REST APIs, AppAssure also includes an extensive set of features for event logging and notification using email, syslog, or Windows Event Log. Email notifications can be used to alert users or groups of the health or status of different events in response to an alert. The syslog and Windows Event Log methods are used for centralized logging to a repository in multi-operating system environments; while in Windows-only environments, only the Windows Event Log is used. License Portal The Dell AppAssure License Portal provides easy-to-use tools for managing license entitlements. You can download, activate, view, and manage license keys and create a company profile to track your license assets. Additionally, the portal enables service providers and re-sellers to track and manage their customer licenses. Web console AppAssure features a web-based central console that manages distributed AppAssure Cores from one central location. Managed service providers (MSPs) and enterprise customers with multiple distributed cores can deploy this console to get a unified view for centralized management. The AppAssure Central Management Console lets you organize the managed cores in hierarchical organizational units. These organizational units can represent business units, locations, or customers for MSPs with role-based access. Using the central console, you can also run reports across all of your managed cores. Service management APIs AppAssure comes bundled with a set of service management APIs and provides programmatic access to all of the functionality available through the AppAssure Central Management Console. The service management API is a REST API. All the API operations are performed over SSL and are mutually authenticated using X.509 v3 certificates. The management service can be accessed from within the environment or directly over the Internet from any application that can send and receive an HTTPS request and response. The approach facilitates easy integration with any Web application such as relationship management methodology (RMM) tools or billing systems. Also included with AppAssure is an SDK client for PowerShell scripting. White labeling AppAssure can be re-branded and white-labeled for select enterprise and OEM partners under the Platinum service provider program. The Platinum service provider program lets partners brand AppAssure with their custom name, logo, and color themes and deliver the product or service with their own branding and look-andfeel to their customers. As an AppAssure partner, you can tailor the software to meet your business requirements. To further explore how you can brand AppAssure to suit your business needs, contact Dell AppAssure Sales at [email protected] for more information. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 15 AppAssure wizards A wizard is a guided set of steps presented to a user in a pop-up window to automate one or more complex tasks. By definition, a wizard contains two or more pages of information for the user to complete. (A singlewindow pop-up is simply considered a dialog box). Wizards use a variety of familiar graphic conventions to collect information, such as text boxes, radio buttons, check boxes, and drop-down menus. When you start a wizard, a window opens above the user interface, and guides you through a series of choices required to accomplish the task. You complete the information presented in each page of the wizard as befits your requirements, navigating back and forth between wizard pages by clicking Next and Back buttons. When complete, you click a submit button (to confirm your choices and perform the task) or the Cancel button (to cancel without making changes, and to return to the UI from which you opened the wizard). AppAssure offers several wizards, which can be divided into two categories. First, there are wizards to install, update, or remove AppAssure software and related components. These are typically launched by double-clicking an executable software installer program. Installers can be accessed by downloading specific components from the Dell AppAssure License Portal. Secondly, wizards are available in the AppAssure Core Console user interface. These are typically launched by clicking on a button or link labeled with the wizard function or result. The wizards in this category are listed below. Table 1. Wizard Name Launched by Description Quick Start Guide Quick Start Guide option (Help menu) Unifies multiple workflows to simplify common tasks for AppAssure. Steps user through the process to protect machines, to configure replication for new agents, to export protected data to virtual machines, to encrypt recovery point data, configure email notification groups, and to configure a retention policy. Protect Machine Protect Machine Wizard button (button bar) Sets up protection on a single machine that you specify. Allows you to provide a name for that machine to display in the Core console. If Agent software is already installed, allows you to select volumes for protection. If not, the wizard will install the software and protect all volumes. Sets a default protection schedule or allows you to set a custom schedule. Using Advanced settings, you can choose (or create) a repository and establish encryption for your protected data. Protect Multiple Bulk Protect button Machines (Home tab) Wizard Sets up protection on multiple machines that you specify, either from a Windows Active Directory domain server, a VMware vCenter Server/ESX(i) virtual host, or manually (by entering a list in a specified format). Replication Wizard Add Target Core link Sets up replication from a primary (or source) Core so that a copy of (Replication tab) your protected data is always available on a separate target Core. Restore Machine Restore button Wizard (button bar) Export Wizard Steps you through the process of restoring data from a recovery point on the Core to a protected machine, or initiating a bare metal restore. Export button Exports recovery point data from a protected machine to a virtual machine in any supported VM format. You can perform a one-time (button bar), Add link (Virtual Standby export or set up virtual standby for continuous export. tab) While wizards typically set up or configure features in AppAssure, you can later modify most of those aspects from the Core Console. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 16 2 Installing and configuring the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya and the AppAssure software This chapter describes how to install and configure the AppAssure Add-on for the Kaseya Management Console as well as the AppAssure Core and AppAssure Agent software. It includes the following topics: • Preparing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya • Installing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya • Uninstalling the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya • AppAssure system requirements • Managing your AppAssure licenses • Installing AppAssure using Kaseya The AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya is a software plug-in that integrates with the Kaseya system management interface to install and monitor backed-up agents across your entire customer base. With the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya, you can do the following: • Deploy the AppAssure Agent and Core • Protect machines • Set up replication • Perform consolidated reporting Recovery features are not available from the Kaseya Management Console, even with the AppAssure Add-on installed. To view and explore recovery points, or to perform a restore, you must do so from the machine on which the AppAssure Core is installed, using the AppAssure Core Console. For more information about using the AppAssure Core Console, see the Dell AppAssure User Guide. Preparing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya There is a multi-step process for ensuring that the AppAssure add-on integrates with Kaseya. It involves installing the add-on software on your Kaseya server, and then deploying the AppAssure Core and AppAssure Agent to the machines you want to include. It is followed by setting up the credentials and repositories for the machines or servers you want to protect. To set up AppAssure for Kaseya, complete the following steps: • Step 1: Install the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya on your Kaseya server. For more information, see Installing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya. • Step 2: Go to the AppAssure License Portal at https://licenseportal.com and create an account. For more information, see the Dell AppAssure License Portal User Guide. • Step 3: Use the license key you obtained from the AppAssure License Portal to create a license. For more information, see Creating an AppAssure license. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 17 • Step 4: Deploy and install the AppAssure Core and Agent software. For more information, see Installing AppAssure using Kaseya. • Step 5: Set up the credentials for the Core and protected machines. For more information, see Managing AppAssure Core and agent credentials. • Step 6: Create and assign a repository for storing the backed-up data. For more information, see Configuring repositories. • Step 7: Begin protecting your machines. For more information, see Configuring machine protection. Installing the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya The installation of the AppAssure Add-on involves installing the AppAssure Add-on software on your Kaseya server as described in this section, and then installing and deploying the AppAssure Core and Agent services on Windows machines as described in the section, Installing AppAssure using Kaseya. NOTE: To install the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya, navigate to the URL you received from Dell to download the add-on installer file to your system. The AppAssure Add-on requires Kaseya server version 6.2 or later. To install the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya 1 Navigate to and double-click the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya installer file on your system. The InstallShield Wizard starts. • If you experience an Open File — Security Warning window, click Run to continue. 2 On the Welcome page, click Next to continue with the installation. 3 On the License Agreement page, select I accept the terms in the license agreement, and then click Next. 4 On the Ready to Install the Program page, click Install. NOTE: In the rare case that your instance of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) serves other websites, those sites are temporarily unavailable until the AppAssure installation completes. A page appears showing the status and progress of the installation. 5 Optionally, on the Installation Wizard Completed page, you can select Show the Windows Installer log. 6 Click Finish. You can now log on to Kaseya to select the AppAssure Add-on and deploy the AppAssure software to your compatible servers. For a list of supported systems, see AppAssure system requirements. Uninstalling the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya If you need to uninstall the Kaseya add-on for AppAssure, you must do so on the designated Kaseya server. To uninstall the Kaseya add-on 1 On the Kaseya server, locate the AA5AddonForKaseya folder (for example, C:\Users\Administrator\Downloads\AA5AddonForKaseya or using the Programs and Features option on the Windows Control Panel). • 2 If you experience an Open File — Security Warning window, click Run to continue. In the AA5AddonForKaseya folder, double-click the AppAssure AddonForKaseya-5.4.x.xxx application file. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 18 3 On the first page of the Installation Wizard, click Next. 4 On the Program Maintenance page, select Remove, and then click Next. 5 On the Remove the Program page, click Remove. The Installation Wizard removes the program from the Kaseya server. 6 After the wizard completes the removal, click Finish. AppAssure system requirements Install the AppAssure Core on a dedicated Windows 64-bit server. For each machine you want to protect with the AppAssure Core, install the AppAssure Agent software version appropriate to the operating system on that machine. Depending on your license and your environment requirements, you may need to install multiple cores. And optionally, for remote management of multiple cores, you can install the AppAssure Central Management Console on a 64-bit Windows computer. Before installing AppAssure, ensure that your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements. CAUTION: Dell does not support running the AppAssure Core on Windows Core operating systems, which offer limited server roles. This limitation includes all editions of Windows Server 2008 Core, Windows Server 2008 R2 Core, Windows Server 2012 Core, and Windows Server 2012 R2 Core. These operating systems are supported for running the AppAssure Agent software. CAUTION: Dell does not recommend running the AppAssure 5 Core on the same physical machine that serves as the Hyper-V host. (This recommendation does not apply to Dell backup and recovery appliances.) Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 19 Table 2. System requirements AppAssure Component Requirement Details AppAssure Core and AppAssure Central Management Console Operating system • Microsoft Windows 7 (all x64 editions) • Microsoft Windows 8* (all x64 editions) • Microsoft Windows 8.1* (all x64 editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (all x64 editions except Windows Server 2008 Core) • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (all x64 editions except Windows Server 2008 R2 Core) • Microsoft Windows Server 2012* (all x64 editions except Windows Server 2012 Core) • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2* (all x64 editions except Windows Server 2012 R2 Core) NOTE: Windows operating systems require the .NET Framework 4.0x to be installed to run the AppAssure Core service. Additionally, operating systems marked with * require the ASP .NET 4.5x role/feature. When installing or upgrading the AppAssure Core, the installer will check for these components based on the OS of the Core server, and will install them automatically if required. For optimal performance, it is recommended that you install the AppAssure Core on Windows 8.1 (or later) and Windows Server 2012 (or later). The AppAssure Core requires a 64-bit Windows platform; 32-bit systems and Linux systems are not supported. Architecture 64-bit only Memory 8 GB RAM or higher; Dell highly recommends using Error Checking & Correction (ECC) memory, to ensure optimum performance of AppAssure Core servers. Processor Quad-Core or higher. Storage Direct Attached Storage, Storage Area Network or Network Attached Storage. Network 1 GB or higher Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 20 Table 2. System requirements AppAssure Component Requirement Details AppAssure Agent Operating System • Microsoft Windows XP SP3 (Professional edition only) • Microsoft Windows Vista (all editions) • Microsoft Windows 7 (all editions) • Microsoft Windows 8* (all editions) • Microsoft Windows 8.1* (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Core (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2012* (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2* (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2012* (all editions) • Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2012 R2* (all editions) • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 6.3 • RHEL 6.4 • RHEL 6.5 • RHEL 7 x64 • CentOS Linux 6.3 • CentOS Linux 6.4 • CentOS Linux 6.5 • CentOS Linux 7 x64 • Ubuntu Linux 12.04 LTS • Ubuntu Linux 13.04 • Ubuntu Linux 14.04 • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 SP2 • SLES 11 SP3 NOTE: Windows operating systems require the Microsoft .NET framework (4.0x) to be installed to run the AppAssure Agent service. NOTE: We support the Linux distributions in the preceding list, and have tested under most of the released kernel versions. NOTE: Agents installed on Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 operate in the Core edition mode of Windows Server 2012. NOTE: For Linux agents, AppAssure only supports the following file systems: ext3, ext4, and xfs. NOTE: Native backup of cluster shared volumes is supported on Windows 2008 R2 agents only. Architecture 32-bit or 64-bit Memory 4 GB or higher Microsoft Exchange Support • Microsoft Exchange 2007 SP1 Rollup 5 or later • Microsoft Exchange 2010 • Microsoft Exchange 2013 Microsoft SQL Support • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 • Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 • Microsoft SQL Server 2012 • Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 21 For more information on using AppAssure, refer to the Dell AppAssure User Guide. For more information on managing Dell AppAssure licenses, refer to the Dell AppAssure License Portal User Guide. For more information on sizing your hardware, software, memory, storage, and network requirements, refer to the Dell AppAssure knowledge base article 118407, “Sizing AppAssure Deployments.” Managing your AppAssure licenses Before you download the AppAssure Core and Agent installation packages, you must log on to the Dell AppAssure License Portal at https://licenseportal.com and register for an account. You can then download the installer and obtain a license key to enable the software. For more information about the Dell AppAssure License Portal, see the Dell AppAssure License Portal User Guide, found on the AppAssure Release Notes and Guides documentation website at https://support.software.dell.com/appassure/release-notes-guides. After you install the AppAssure Core, you can download the AppAssure Agent installer from the Core or the Dell AppAssure License Portal for each machine that the Core protects. Creating an AppAssure license Complete the following procedure to enter the license key necessary to deploy the AppAssure software within Kaseya. To create an AppAssure license 1 Navigate to the AppAssure Deployment section, and then select Manage Licenses. 2 Enter the following information for your license. Table 3. Text Box Description License Name A descriptive name to identify the license. License Key The license key you received from the Dell Software Group licensing team. Description (optional) A description for this license key. 3 Click Create License. 4 Repeat the previous step for each license you want to enter. Any licenses that you add appear in the License table on this page. Deleting AppAssure licenses Complete the following procedure to delete AppAssure licenses. To delete AppAssure licenses 1 Navigate to the AppAssure Deployment section, and then select Manage Licenses. 2 In the License table, select the license or licenses you want to delete. 3 Click Delete Licenses. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 22 Installing AppAssure using Kaseya The AppAssure Core stores and manages the backups of all protected machines or servers in your environment. on which the AppAssure Agent is installed. To begin, you must download the AppAssure Core Web installer package (which includes the AppAssure Agent software) from the Dell AppAssure License Portal at https://licenseportal.com. Save this file on your system in an accessible location so you can later upload it to the Kaseya Server. After the AppAssure Core is installed, you can then access the AppAssure Agent Installer file on your system at: C:\Program Files\AppRecovery\Core\Installers NOTE: Only version 5.3.1.x or later of the AppAssure Core or Agent software is supported. After you download the installer, complete the following steps: • Step 1: Uploading an AppAssure installation package to the Kaseya server • Step 2: Deploying the AppAssure Core • Step 3: Installing AppAssure Agent software • Step 4: Verifying installation of AppAssure on a machine Uploading an AppAssure installation package to the Kaseya server After you install the AppAssure Add-on, you can use it to deploy the AppAssure Core and Agent to the machines you want to use and protect. NOTE: Only version 5.3.1.x or later of the AppAssure Core or Agent software is supported. To upload an AppAssure installation package to the Kaseya server 1 Navigate to the AppAssure Deployment section in Kaseya, and then click Upload Packages. 2 Click the Browse for a File button to locate the AppAssure Core Web or AppAssure Agent Web installation package file on your system. 3 In the dialog box, select the Core installation file on your system, and then click Open. 4 Click Upload File. Deploying the AppAssure Core You can use the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya interface to deploy and install the AppAssure Core to networked servers. Complete the following procedure to deploy the AppAssure Core. CAUTION: When upgrading a machine to a newer version of AppAssure, always upgrade the Core before the agent. If you have replication enabled, it is important that you deploy the AppAssure upgrade in the following order: target core, then source core, then agent. To deploy the AppAssure Core 1 Navigate to the AppAssure Deployment section, and then click Install Cores to install AppAssure on your machines. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 23 2 Specify the following options to define when and how to install the software. Table 4. Option Description Run Now Select this option to run the installation now. Scheduled Select this option to schedule a time to run the installation. Select the following options from the four drop-down lists to schedule a time to run the installation: • The month and year combination • The day • The hour • The minute of the hour Stagger by (optional) Use this option if you upgrade the Core software for multiple machines. Enter a number in minutes to stagger the time each machine tries to run the update to even the load on file servers and the internet connection. Skip if machine offline (optional) Select this option to only scan at the scheduled time. If the machine is offline, skip this option and reschedule the installation for the next interval. Clear this check box to scan as soon as the machine connects after the scheduled time. 3 From the Choose AppAssure 5 installation package drop-down list, select the version of the Core you want to install. 4 In the Choose a License drop-down menu, select the license you added in for the Core you are deploying. 5 In the list of machines on this page, select the machine or machines to which you want to deploy the AppAssure Core software. 6 Click Install/Reinstall. 7 In the Confirm window, click Yes. When the installation begins, a message displays in the AppAssure Core 5 Version column for the affected machines, alerting you as to the start of the installation. When the installation completes, the version of the Core software that was installed appears in this column. NOTE: Select a machine from the list to start the Kaseya feature, Live Connect, for that machine. Installing AppAssure Agent software This section describes the steps for installing and deploying the AppAssure Agent software to the machines in your environment. NOTE: If the AppAssure Core or Agent is already installed on the target machine, an upgrade or repair is performed. Also note that downgrading an installation to a previous version is not supported. CAUTION: When upgrading a machine to a newer version of AppAssure, always upgrade the Core before the agent. If you have replication enabled, it is important that you deploy the AppAssure upgrade in the following order: target core, then source core, then agent. To install AppAssure Agent software 1 Navigate to the AppAssure Deployment section, and then click Install Agents to install AppAssure on your machines. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 24 2 Specify the following options to define when and how to install the software. Table 5. Option Description Run Now Select this option to run the installation now. Scheduled Select the following options from the four drop-down lists to schedule a time to run the installation: • The month and year combination • The day • The hour • The minute of the hour Stagger by (optional) Use this option when you update the software. Enter a number in minutes to stagger the time each machine tries to run the update to even the load on file servers and the internet connection. Skip if machine offline (optional) Select this option to only scan at the scheduled time. If the machine is offline, skip this option and reschedule the installation for the next interval. Clear this check box to scan as soon as the machine connects after the scheduled time. 3 From the Choose AppAssure 5 installation package drop-down list, select the version of the AppAssure Agent software you want to install. 4 In the list of machines on this page, select the machine or machines to which you want to deploy the AppAssure Agent software. TIP: When upgrading, verify the Core that protects each agent and that you are not upgrading an agent before a core, by viewing the Prepare Replication page in the navigation tree. 5 Click Install/Reinstall. 6 In the Confirm window, click Yes. When the installation begins, a message displays in the AppAssure Agent 5 Version column for the affected machines, alerting you as to the start of the installation. When the installation completes, the version number of the AppAssure Agent software that was installed appears in this column. NOTE: Select a machine from the list to start the Kaseya feature, Live Connect, for that machine. Verifying installation of AppAssure on a machine Complete the following procedure to verify the installation of AppAssure on a particular machine. To verify installation of AppAssure on a machine 1 From the list of machines on the Install Agents page or the Install Cores page, select the machine, and then click Verify Install. 2 In the Confirm window, click Yes. A message displays next to the machine, alerting you that the audit is in progress. This audit verifies whether a core or agent is installed on the selected machine and lists the version of software in the AppAssure Version column. If no version is installed, text indicating that installation did not occur appears in the AppAssure version column (AppAssure Core 5 Version for cores, AppAssure Agent 5 Version for agents). Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 25 3 Using the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya This chapter describes how to use the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya to protect and replicate machines. It includes the following topics: • Managing AppAssure Core and agent credentials • Configuring repositories • Configuring machine protection • Managing replication • Monitoring AppAssure activity • Managing AppAssure Core reports The AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya lets you perform several AppAssure functions directly from the Kaseya Management Console. Use the navigation tree in the AppAssure 5 Server Backup column of the console to access the various AppAssure pages. The AppAssure navigation tree includes the following root nodes: • Welcome to AppAssure 5. An overview of the product. • AppAssure Deployment. Upload software versions, manage licenses, and deploy the AppAssure software. • Configure Management. View and manage credentials, repositories, and agent information. • Manage Protection. Protect machines using the AppAssure Agent, and manage their protection. • Manage Replication. Begin replicating the agents from a source core to a target core for disaster recovery preparation. • Monitor. View the machines and the events the Core or Cores perform. • Reporting. Create, view, and send reports of machine information and events. Managing AppAssure Core and agent credentials An AppAssure Core provides the essential services for backup, replication, archiving, and management. An agent is a machine with the AppAssure Agent installed on it and that a specific core manages and protects. On a core server, repositories are set up to store the snapshots that are captured from the protected machines, that is, AppAssure Agents. Repositories are configured by specifying in which volumes on the Core server to store the data. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 26 Managing agent credentials When a core protects an agent in a different network domain, you need to configure the network credentials to let the Core communicate with the agent. To manage agent credentials 1 Navigate to the Configure Management section, and then click Manage Agent Credentials. 2 Enter the following information for your AppAssure Agent machine, and then click Apply. Table 6. 3 Text Box Description Login Enter the user name used to connect to this machine; for example, administrator. Password Enter the password associated with the Login. Confirm Password Re-enter the password associated with the Login. Domain Enter the domain for this machine, if applicable. If the machine is not in a domain, leave this text box empty. Select a machine and click Verify to verify whether the saved credentials are correct and have the required privileges to communicate with the agent. Managing core credentials When an AppAssure Core protects agents in a different network domain or workgroup, you need to configure the network credentials to let the Core communicate with the agent. To manage core credentials 1 Navigate to the Configure Management section, and then select Manage Core Credentials. 2 Enter the following information for your AppAssure Core machine, and then click Apply. Table 7. 3 Text Box Description Login Enter the user name used to connect to this machine; for example, administrator. Password Enter the password associated with the Login. Confirm Password Re-enter the password associated with the Login. Domain Enter the domain for this machine, if applicable. If the machine is not in a domain, leave this text box empty. Select a machine, and then click Verify to verify that the saved credentials are correct and provide the required privileges to communicate with the Core. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 27 Configuring repositories A repository is used to store the snapshots that are captured from the protected servers. Before creating a repository, verify that you have set the credentials for logging on to the associated AppAssure Core. NOTE: AppAssure repositories should be stored on primary storage devices. Archival storage devices such as Data Domain are not supported due to performance limitations. Similarly, repositories should not be stored on NAS filers that tier to the cloud as these devices tend to have performance limitations when used as primary storage. Adding a repository Complete the steps in this procedure to add a repository To add a repository 1 Navigate to the Configure Management section, and then click Manage Core Repositories. 2 In the list of machines on this page, select the Core machine to which you want to add a repository. 3 Click Add New Repository. The Add New Repository dialog box displays. 4 Enter the information in the text boxes as described in the following table. Table 8. Text Box Description Name Enter the display name of the repository. By default, this text box consists of the word Repository and an index number, which corresponds to the number of the new repository. You can change the name as needed, and you can enter up to 150 characters. Concurrent Operations Define the number of concurrent requests that the repository supports. By default, the value is 64. Comments (optional) When configuring repositories, network and local storage locations must be similar and not a combination of local and network file locations. Configure the storage location for the repositories as either all local or all network. Enter a descriptive note about this repository. 5 Click Add File Spec to define a specific location or volume for the repository. WARNING: If the AppAssure repository that you are creating in this step is later removed, all files at the storage location of your repository are also deleted. If you do not define a dedicated folder to store the repository files, then those files are stored in the root. Deleting the repository also deletes the entire contents of the root, resulting in catastrophic data loss. NOTE: AppAssure repositories should be stored on primary storage devices. Archival storage devices such as Data Domain are not supported due to performance limitations. Similarly, repositories should not be stored on NAS filers that tier to the cloud as these devices tend to have performance limitations when used as primary storage. The Add File Specification dialog box appears. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 28 6 Specify how to add the file for the storage location and where. You can choose to add the file on local disk or on CIFS share. NOTE: When configuring repositories, you cannot intermix network and local locations for a repository. The storage location must contain either all local files or all network files. • Click Add the file on local disk to specify a local machine and then enter the information as described in the following table. Table 9. Text Box Description Metadata Path Enter the location for storing the protected metadata. For example, type: X:\Repository\Metadata. When specifying the path, use only alphanumeric characters, the hyphen, and the period (only to separate host names and domains). The letters a to z are case-insensitive. Do not use spaces. No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted. Data Path Enter the location for storing the protected data. For example, type: X:\Repository\Data. The same limitations to the path apply; use only alphanumeric characters, hyphen, or period, with no spaces or special characters. • Or, click Add file on CIFS share to specify a network share location and then enter the information as described in the following table. Table 10. Text Box Description UNC Path Enter the path for the network share location. If this location is at the root, define a dedicated folder name (for example, Repository). The path must begin with \\. When specifying the path, use only alphanumeric characters, the hyphen, and the period (only to separate host names and domains). The letters a to z are case-insensitive. Do not use spaces. No other symbols or punctuation characters are permitted. 7 User Name Specify a user name for accessing the network share location. Password Specify a password for accessing the network share location. Confirm Password Re-enter the password. In the Details pane, enter the details for the storage location as described in the following table. Table 11. Text Box Description Bytes per Sector Specify the number of bytes you want each sector to include. The default value is 512. Average Bytes per Record Specify the average number of bytes per record. The default value is 8192. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 29 Table 11. Text Box Description Write Caching Policy The write caching policy controls how the Windows Cache Manager is used in the repository and helps to tune the repository for optimal performance on different configurations. Set the value to one of the following: • On • Off • Sync If set to On, which is the default, Windows controls the caching. NOTE: Setting the write caching policy to On could result in faster performance. If you are using a version of Windows Server older than Server 2012, the recommended setting is Off. If set to Off, AppAssure controls the caching. If set to Sync, Windows controls the caching as well as the synchronous input/output. Size Set the size or capacity for the storage location. The default is 250MB. You can choose from the following: • MB • GB • TB NOTE: The size that you specify cannot exceed the size of the volume. If the storage location is a New Technology File System (NTFS) volume using Windows XP or Windows 7, the file size limit is 16TB. If the storage location is an NTFS volume using Windows 8, 8.1 or Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, the file size limit is 256TB. NOTE: For AppAssure to validate the operating system, Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) must be installed on the intended storage location. 8 Click Save. The Repositories page displays the newly added storage location. 9 Repeat Step 5 through Step 8 to add additional storage locations for the repository. 10 Click Create to create the repository. • If you need to edit the storage location, click Edit. • If you need to delete the storage location, click Delete. Performing a repository audit Performing a repository audit is helpful for getting and viewing information about the repositories configured for an AppAssure Core. To perform a repository audit 1 Navigate to the Configure Management section, and then click Manage Core Repositories. 2 Select the machine for the audit, and then click Get AppAssure Core Repositories. 3 To confirm the selection and acknowledge that this task queries all managed cores for their repository parameters, click Yes. Any associated repositories including allocated size (in MB, GB or TB) appears in the Repository column for the selected machine. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 30 Viewing AppAssure Agent volume information You can easily view information about the volumes that are being protected on the AppAssure Agent machines. To get updated AppAssure Agent volume information, verify that you have set the credentials for logging on to the agent machine. To view AppAssure Agent volume information 1 Navigate to the Configure Management section, and then click Agent Volumes Information. 2 To refresh the information in the list about known AppAssure Agent volumes, click Get AppAssure Agent Volumes. 3 In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes. Configuring machine protection You can protect the volumes of data from the machines and Windows Servers on which you have installed AppAssure Agents. When a machine is protected, full and incremental snapshots of data are captured from and stored in the repository for the associated core. This section includes the following topics: • Protecting a machine • Updating protection and replication status • Removing a machine from protection Protecting a machine Before you protect a machine, be sure to have on hand the information for the agent volumes and core repositories. To protect a machine 1 Navigate to the Manage Protection section, and then click Protect Machines. 2 In the list of machines on this page, select the machine you want to protect. 3 Click Protect Agent. The Protect Machine dialog box opens. 4 On the Select Core tab, select the Core that protects and manages this agent machine, and then click Next. 5 On the Options tab, select the volumes on the agent to protect and the repository on the Core in which to store snapshots of that volume, and then click Protect. A message appears in the Managed by Core column, alerting you that the setup of protection is in progress. After the setup, the name of the Core appears in this column. The default interval for protection is one hour. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 31 Updating protection and replication status When you update the protection and replication status for a machine, you get the latest status of all agents associated with the known cores. This feature is helpful if you need to verify that you have the latest version of protected data. To update protection and replication status 1 Navigate to the Manage Protection section, and then click Protect Machines. 2 Click Update Protection and Replication Status. 3 In the confirmation dialog box that appears, click OK. Removing a machine from protection When you remove a machine from protection, you stop protection by the AppAssure Core to which the AppAssure Agent on the selected machine is attached. NOTE: The machine is removed from protection, but the AppAssure Agent software is not un-installed. To remove a machine from protection 1 Navigate to the Manage Protection section, and then click Protect Machines. In the list of machines on this page, find the machine you want to remove, and then, in the Actions column, click Remove Machine. The Remove Machine dialog box opens. 2 Confirm the credentials for this machine, if needed. 3 To remove the recovery points for this machine, select Delete Recovery Points. 4 Click Remove Machine. A message displays in the Managed by Core column for the selected machine to indicate that the removal is in progress. Managing replication Replication is the managing and transference of data (recovery points) between a source and target core. A snapshot of the recovery points on the source core is captured and then transmitted to a target core for redundancy. There are multiple ways in which replication can be configured; for example, between two cores at the same site or across two locations on a per machine basis. AppAssure asynchronously transmits the snapshot of the replicated data (recovery points) to the target core for storage. Outbound replication can also be configured to a Managed Service Provider (MSP) providing off-site backup and disaster recovery service, or to a self-managed core. The AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya supports two types of replication. Replication by request is useful when you know the name but do not know the credentials for the Core to which you want to replicate; for example, an MSP-hosted core. On-demand replication is replication for a self-managed core, that is, a core that you own. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 32 In the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya, the following list describes the replication tasks you can perform: • When you prepare for replication, you create a link between two cores, that is, one source and one target. For more information, see Preparing for replication. • When you establish replication, you establish on-demand replication for any replication you have prepared. For more information, see Establishing replication. • When viewing pending requests, you can accept or deny replication requests. For more information, see Viewing pending replication requests. • You can also remove replication. For more information, see Removing replication. Preparing for replication Use Prepare Replication to configure replication and create a link between two cores, that is, one source and one target. To prepare for replication 1 Navigate to the Manage Replication section, and then click Prepare Replication. 2 In the list of machines on this page, select the machine you want to prepare for replication, and then click Prepare Replication. The Prepare Replication dialog box opens. 3 On the Selected Replication Type tab, do one of the following: • For replication by request, select I have a subscription to a third-party providing off-site backup and disaster recovery services and wish to replicate my backups to that service (generate replication request), and then enter the information described in the following table. Table 12. Text Box Description Host Name Enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the Core. Port Enter the port number that you received from the service provider. The default port number is 8006. • For on-demand replication, select I have my own remote Core I wish to replicate to (establish replication on-demand), and then enter the credentials for the target core as they are described in the following table. Table 13. 4 Text Box Description Host Name Enter the host name for the Core. Port Enter the port number. The default port number is 8006. User Name The user name for logging on to the Core. Password The password associated with this user name. Click Continue. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 33 5 If you selected the option for replication by request, on the Add Remote Core tab, do the following: a Select the AppAssure Agent machine to replicate. b Enter your subscription email address and (optional) customer ID that you received from the service provider. c Click Submit Request to close this dialog box and submit the replication request. On the Prepare Replication page, a message displays in the State column indicating that replication by request is in progress, followed by a status of Pending. If the request is approved, this status changes to Established. For replication on demand, the State column displays the text, Pairing. 6 If you selected the option for on-demand replication, proceed to the section, Establishing replication. Establishing replication Use Establish Replication to configure on-demand replication when you have credentials for both source and target cores. For example, you own the Cores and do not need to send a request or get approval to establish replication. To establish replication 1 Navigate to the Manage Replication section, and then click Establish Replication. 2 In the list of machines on this page, select the machine you have prepared for replication and for which you want to establish replication. (This machine has the status Prepare replication validated in the State column.) 3 Click Establish Replication. The Establish Replication dialog box opens. 4 Under Add Remote Core, do one of the following: • Select Replace an existing replicated core on, and then select an existing target core from the drop-down list. • Select Create a new replicated core on, and then enter the name of the new target core. 5 In the table, select the agent machine or machines and a repository in which you want to store replicated data from the drop-down list for each machine. 6 Click Start Replication. On the Establish Replication page, the State column for the selected core machine displays the text, Pending. When replication is established, the status changes to Established. Viewing pending replication requests If you have agent machines for which others can send replication requests, this page lets you get and view the requests that have been submitted for those agents. The list of agents includes the following information: • Core Name. The name of the machine that has the Core installed. • Credentials. The user name associated with that machine. • Select. The means by which you can select a machine. • Customer Id. The identification number for the customer who made the replication request. • Email Address. The contact information for the customer who requested replication to this core. • Host Name. The name of the source core from which the customer wants to replicate. • Status. The state of replication between the cores (for example, Pending or Approved.) Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 34 You can then review those requests and accept or deny them as appropriate. If you accept, replication is established and recovery points are sent from the source to the target cores. To view pending replication requests 1 Navigate to the Manage Replication section, and then click Pending Requests. 2 On the Pending Requests page, in the Select column, select a machine in the list that has a Status of Pending. 3 To refresh the list, click Get Pending Requests, and then click Yes in the dialog box to confirm. 4 Select the Core again, and then click Review. The Pending Request dialog box opens. 5 If you want to approve the request, under Review Replication Request, do the following: a 6 Select the target machine to which you want to replicate, or enter a new remote core for this replication by entering the following information: • Core name • Subscription email address • (Optional) customer ID for this machine b Select the agent machines and associated repositories for the replication. c Optionally, enter a comment for the customer to see. d Click Send Response to establish replication. To deny the request, click Deny. On the Pending Requests page, the Status column updates to display the status as either Approved or Denied as appropriate. Removing replication When you remove replication, you stop any type of agent replication. After you remove replication in the addon console, the pairing between the source core and target core continues to exist. To remove replication completely, you must do so using the Core Console on each core machine. For more information about removing replication from the AppAssure Core Console, see the Dell AppAssure User Guide. To remove replication 1 Navigate to the Manage Replication section, and then click Remove Replication. 2 Select the agent machine for which you want to remove replication, and then click Remove Replication. TIP: To select all machines, click Select All in the first column of the table. The Remove Replication dialog box opens. 3 To also remove associated recovery points, click Delete Recovery Points. 4 Click Remove. Monitoring AppAssure activity Within the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya, you can view pertinent activity information about all of the machines in your AppAssure for Kaseya environment. Details, including machine name, IP Address, version of AppAssure software, and machine type (core or agent), identify each machine. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 35 To monitor AppAssure activity 1 Navigate to the Monitor section, and then click Machines. 2 In the Actions column for a particular machine, click the Tasks link to view a list of all associated tasks for a particular machine. On the Tasks page, you can view such information as the type of task, when it was started, whether it was completed, and its status. 3 Click Refresh to update the list of tasks. 4 To see the details of a specific task, click View Result for that task. Managing AppAssure Core reports The AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya lets you generate reports for one or more cores. It does not generate reports for individual agents; however, the reports include information about the agents that the selected cores protect. With the add-on, you can generate the following reports: • Core Summary report • Critical Event report The Core Summary report provides details about jobs performed and the status of those jobs. It also generates a Core Status report. Together, the reports include the following information: • Core Name. The name of the Core you selected for the report. • Data Status. The status of the data the Core backed up (for example, Available). • Core. The Core for which you ran the report. • Machine. The name of the agent that the Core protects. • Type. The type of job performed (for example, Transfer). • Summary. A brief description of the actions that the job performed. • Status. The status of the job (for example, Succeeded or Failed). • Error. The type of error that caused the failure if a failure occurred. • Start Time. The time at which the job began. • End Time. The time at which the job ended. • Time. The duration of the job (for example, 2m 16s for 2 minutes and 16 seconds). • Total Work. The amount of data affected. For example, a transfer job could have a Total Work of 53.7MB. The Critical Event report also generates a Core Status report. Together, the reports include the following information: • Core Name. The name of the Core you selected for the report. • Data Status. The status of the data the Core backed up (for example, Available). • Core. The Core for which you ran the report. • # of Failures. The number of jobs that failed to complete for the Core you selected. The following procedures describe how to create and view reports. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 36 Creating reports The AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya provides a consolidated reporting feature that lets you create summary reports for selected AppAssure Cores and activities for AppAssure Agents that the Core protects. To create reports 1 Navigate to the Reporting section, and then click Create Report. 2 Select the Core or Cores for which you want to create the report. TIP: To select all core machines in the table, click Select All in the first column of the table. 3 (Optional) In the Description text box, enter a text description. 4 In the Start Time drop-down calendar, select a date, and then enter a time at which the report should begin. 5 In the End Time drop-down calendar, select a date, and then enter a time at which the report should end. 6 Click Run Report. 7 In the dialog box, click OK to acknowledge that the report has been scheduled. In the Most Recent Report Status column, the status of In Progress appears. This status changes to Completed when the report has been created. 8 To view the report, complete the steps in the following section, Viewing reports. Viewing reports After you create summary reports for the AppAssure Add-on for Kaseya, you can view them. The reports are useful for compliance, and they contain information about the AppAssure Core and AppAssure Agent activities that are associated with the Core. Complete the steps in following procedure to view the summary reports. For information on how to create reports, see Creating reports. To view reports 1 Navigate to the Reporting section, and then click View Reports. 2 In the Actions column for the name of the reports generated, click the link for the report you want to view (for example, View Core Summary Report). The View Reports page refreshes with the full report details. Under Core Status Report, you can view the status of the Core in the report (for example, Available). Under Core Summary Report, you can view a detailed list of the agent activities associated with the Core in the report. These details include the type of activity, summary description, status, start and end time, duration for the activity, and amount of disk space required for the activity. 3 If the report spans multiple pages, click the page numbers or the arrow buttons at the bottom of the report results to page through the results. 4 To export the report results to a different format, select a format for the export from the drop-down list and click Save. • 5 Available formats include PDF, XLS, XLSX, CSV, and HTML. To print the report results, do one of the following: • Click the first Printer icon to print the entire report. • Or, click the second Printer icon to print the current page of the report. Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 37 About Dell Dell listens to customers and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business solutions and services they trust and value. For more information, visit www.software.dell.com. Contacting Dell Technical support: Online support Product questions and sales: (800) 306-9329 Email: [email protected] Technical support resources Technical support is available to customers who have purchased Dell software with a valid maintenance contract and to customers who have trial versions. To access the Support Portal, go to http://software.dell.com/support/. The Support Portal provides self-help tools you can use to solve problems quickly and independently, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. In addition, the portal provides direct access to product support engineers through an online Service Request system. The site enables you to: • Create, update, and manage Service Requests (cases) • View Knowledge Base articles • Obtain product notifications • Download software. For trial software, go to Trial Downloads. • View how-to videos • Engage in community discussions • Chat with a support engineer Dell AppAssure Third-Party Integration Guide Version 5.4.3 38